


Status Of Life

by spinsters_grave



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: (Past relationship: Jasper/Lapis Lazuli), (but they broke up it's okay), 500 years have passed since the world was destroyed, F/F, Hints of other relationships, Human AU, Lapis has a mysterious past that is plot-important, Peridot's POV, Post-apocalyptic wasteland AU, Security Guard Jasper, a colony on the east coast of america is all that's left, abusive relationship: Jasper/Lapis Lazuli, gov't roboticist Peridot, terrain specialist Lapis
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-10
Updated: 2017-10-06
Packaged: 2018-12-13 07:34:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 17,327
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11755074
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spinsters_grave/pseuds/spinsters_grave
Summary: “What do you even have to protect out here? There’s nothing!”Peridot, technically, doesn’t know what’s beyond the fence. It could be the death of civilization. It could be nothing. It would probably be nothing.Except... it would be life. Which would be impossible.Before the radiation has the chance to kill her and her teammates, Peridot needs to investigate her claims of life and bring back her report to the Diamonds.There is no room for failure.Completed!





	1. Attention

There wasn’t portable music anymore, since all the recording devices were gone. Peridot had nothing to listen to when she ran except for the whirring of the treadmill, her labored breath, and her feet pounding the rubber. She made an effort to run lightly. 

 

After thirty minutes, she turned the machine off. She had found it rusting in a building dedicated to old machines that were found that could technically be fixed, but no one had yet. It had only taken her a couple weekends to fix up; once she figured out the motherboard, the rest was easy. She’d had to file for a new strip of rubber, though. It was worth it: she thought she was the only one within the colony to have a personal treadmill, and she didn’t have to wait in the gym early in the morning before she had her wake-up pill. 

 

Running was part of her early-morning routine. Peridot could make a circuit around her apartment in the course of her routine: wake up and get dressed for running, run, then take a shower, then make something to eat and have her wake-up pill. It was loaded with caffeine, but since the tropics had mostly been destroyed, the only coffee beans grown were in Florida and thus a luxury. 

 

Then she had work. As a government roboticist, Peridot could only work in official buildings; she had a workbench at her apartment, but it only saw use on off-days. She cast it a wistful glance as she left her apartment. She’d use it soon. 

 

The first thing Peridot did when she got to work was check the levels of radiation her robots picked up outside the colony. They were mostly the same. She could expect a slight decrease over time—the war had been five hundred years ago—but for now, the levels only went down a couple decimal points at a time. Peridot typed a report for her boss that really just said “Everything is the same outside. Nothing to report.” 

 

She waited to send it, though. She knew the most likely outcome of the long-distance life scanners report would be the same—none—so half the time she didn’t even bother to check before she sent her report. But today, she had a gut feeling that she should just  _ check. _ Just in case. Then she could get back to maintenance and building of her other projects.

 

The monitors for the long-distance life scanners could only be accessed with a password. Peridot had one, as did her lab mates. Her lab mates came by the lab very rarely; they usually worked in a different section of the building or in another building altogether. That was fine. It gave Peridot permission to talk to herself and open the windows whenever she wanted. 

 

At first, Peridot didn't know what she was looking at. It had been so long since she had built the machine that she almost forgot what to look for; the blinking light stared at her for a  _ very _ long moment before Peridot scrambled to her tablet to rewrite her report. 

 

**ATTN: STATUS OF LIFE OUTSIDE COLONY CHANGE,** she wrote for a header. 

 

**SCANNER G34-BC HAS PICKED UP BIOMETRIC SIGNALS ON THE WEST COAST OF AMERICA. SIGNALS ARE STRONG. LIFE IS SUSPECTED TO EXIST ON THE WEST COAST. PERMISSION TO GATHER A TEAM AND PERFORM FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS REQUESTED.**

 

**DR PERIDOT FAHSET-SMITH**

 

This was  _ huge. _ Life outside the colonies simply didn’t exist. It was a wasteland, with no plants, and contaminated water. Peridot vibrated with excitement—this was  _ her _ discovery.  _ Her _ robots had picked up on life.  _ She _ had checked the monitors. And with shaking fingers, it was  _ her _ who sent the report to Yellow Diamond, along with a picture of the reading. 

 

Peridot screamed a little bit. Life!  _ Life! _

 

A reply came ten minutes later. Those ten minutes were filled with anxious pacing, some slight, uncontrollable jumps, and checking the monitors to make sure she was  _ absolutely correct and not wrong about life. _ Stars, this was so exciting. 

 

**RE: ATTN: STATUS OF LIFE OUTSIDE COLONY CHANGE**

 

**REPORT IMMEDIATELY TO THE PALACE. BRING YOUR FINDINGS, ALL YOUR PREVIOUS RESEARCH, BLUEPRINTS OF THE SCANNER, AND A FUNCTIONAL VERSION OF THE SCANNER. TELL NO ONE OF WHAT YOU HAVE LEARNED UNTIL WE HAVE CONFIRMED.**

 

**YELLOW DIAMOND**

 

This time, Peridot did scream, very loudly. She rushed around her workspace to gather everything. Yellow Diamond! The immortal Yellow Diamond had contacted  _ her! _ This was the biggest day of Peridot’s life. Her wedding might have been more important, except Peridot had never married, and she never had any intention to ever do so. Unless it was to Yellow Diamond! But she’d never get to marry Yellow Diamond. The immortal, lustrous Yellow Diamond. 

 

A couple co-workers beeped for request of entry. They knew Peridot didn’t like to be interrupted. Peridot glanced at the door; she could see maybe five or six people crowding the tiny window. She waved at them, then grabbed a duffel bag to shove all her research in. The printed-out reading, however, she put in a manila folder to preserve. 

 

She pushed past her co-workers. There were too many outside; the door did a good job of sweeping several to the side.

 

One spoke. “Dr Fahset-Smith? We heard you scream. Are you alright?”

 

Peridot smiled, vaguely maniacal. “Never been better! Never been better! Please get out of the way. I have very important news to deliver!”

 

Without listening to the clamor of her co-workers, Peridot pushed open the door to the outside and started to run down the street. She must have been a sight to see: a tiny woman carrying a huge, heavy duffel bag with a suspicious round shape poking out, dashing down the street, clutching a manila folder and wearing a lab coat. She decided the opinions of the masses didn’t matter, not when her Diamond had recognized her. 

 

The Palace was fifteen blocks away, and Peridot ran every step of the way. The Palace used to be something called the White House, back before the war; the person who had occupied it before Yellow and Blue Diamonds did had caused international tension to increase and international policies to wither and decay so much that the world had seen no other option besides nuclear war. It had destroyed  _ everything. _ There were only pockets of humanity left: Peridot only knew of her own, on the East Coast of what used to be America, and her Diamonds. 

 

There were guards outside the Palace, and they stopped Peridot from going any further into Palace grounds. Peridot hopped from foot to foot as she explained the situation: “Yellow Diamond called me here! She said to come immediately! I have  _ very _ important news to deliver and verify. I  _ must _ be allowed inside  _ immediately!” _ Only after she showed the guards her correspondence with Yellow Diamond was she allowed inside, and only with a guard. 

 

The guard walked at a slow, steady pace, making Peridot do the same. Peridot glanced up at the guard from time to time, looking for any reaction the woman might give. Her face was impassive and blank.

 

“Hi there,” Peridot said, giving a small grin. “You don’t talk much, do you.”

 

The guard said nothing. 

 

“What’s your name, at least,” Peridot asked. “I’m Doctor Peridot Fahset-Smith. Nice to meet you.” She held out her hand. The guard glanced at it, but continued to say nothing. So they walked. 

 

Peridot sighed. “You believe me, right? You’re not taking me to some, I don’t know, underground torture chamber? I’m not going to be hung for deceiving Yellow Diamond? Because I didn’t lie to her.”

 

“Be quiet,” the guard murmured. She stopped, and a few steps after she realized, Peridot stopped as well and turned to look at her. The hallway was deserted. 

 

“If you talk to Yellow Diamond like this, she will do horrible, horrible things to you,” the guard continued. “Be respectful. This is Yellow Diamond you’re talking to. She won’t tolerate mistakes.”

 

Peridot gulped. “I didn’t make a mistake. My readings are accurate.”

 

The guard held her gaze for what seemed like forever. Finally, she looked up above Peridot’s head and began to walk again, slowly, steadily. Peridot followed. She thought she had been defeated, in some way. 

 

The guard stopped them at a rather unassuming door. She looked at Peridot, and Peridot thought the guard could see every single aspect of her. Peridot didn’t know the reason for the soul-searching, only that it was intense. 

 

The guard finally broke her stare and knocked once on the door, sharp and direct. Peridot straightened up and held on tightly to her duffel bag strap. She was about to meet  _ Yellow Diamond. _ Almost nobody in her position  _ ever _ met Yellow Diamond: as smart and powerful as she was, she was secretive to match. 

 

The huge, heavy door was opened by a small slip of a woman: dressed in yellow, with her hair carefully coiffed. Peridot supposed she had to keep herself under the brand:  _ Yellow _ Diamond,  _ yellow  _ secretary. 

 

There was a long moment of silence, where Peridot didn’t know what was up and what was down. The guard nudged her, and Peridot lunged forward slightly. 

 

She stuck out her hand to the secretary. “Dr Peridot Fahset-Smith. I have important news to deliver to Yellow Diamond!”

 

The secretary opened the door some more and said in a nasally voice, “Proof of identity? Please tell me you brought your I.D.”

 

Peridot let her extended hand drop, then fumbled around in her pockets. She had so many: Under her lab coat, she was wearing a turtleneck sweater and blue jeans, and her duffel bag had a side pocket she might have put her wallet in. 

 

“Time is ticking,” the secretary said. She leaned on the door and tapped her foot impatiently. “Jasper, is this  _ Doctor Peridot _ going to have her identification any time soon?”

 

Peridot finally found the pebbled leather of her wallet— “Yes! Yes, it’s right here.” Her ID card was in the clear partition on the front. “Dr Peridot Fahset-Smith. See?”

 

The secretary fixed her glasses and leaned in to look at Peridot’s wallet. “Mm, yes, that checks out,” she said like she expected the card to be fake. She closed the door in their faces. Peridot looked at her guard—Jasper—in case she had messed up, but Jasper just stood there, stoic as ever. 

 

A big voice called through the door: “Let her in,” and Peridot knew that was Yellow Diamond herself. 

 

Jasper pushed open the door and walked in, Peridot right behind her. Jasper’s back was so broad that the room only came to her slowly: cream-colored walls, perfectly upholstered couches, and ancient oil paintings. Then Jasper moved to the side, and the sight of Yellow Diamond sitting behind a grand oak desk, the tatters of a ruined flag hanging behind her, hit Peridot like a truck. 

 

Peridot had heard the stories, of course, about how Yellow Diamond came to be. She had the textbook version, which she trusted the most—that Yellow Diamond and her counterpart to the south, Blue Diamond, had been coated in a liquid nitrogen formula on the onset of the war, and it had reacted strangely with the components of the nuclear weapons. Their bodily functions had mostly become frozen, but their brains continued to work and they were still able to lead. And they could lead  _ perfectly. _ Peridot had overheard her co-workers, though, in whispered conversations bordering on the edge of treason, talk about government black-ops of a bygone era, human experimentation striving for immortality—and how the Diamonds were trying again, with their own citizens, and  _ that _ was why people were disappearing—they weren’t dying in the nuclear wastelands, they were dying in failed attempts for immortality. 

 

Either way, the Diamonds were very cold.

 

“Doctor Peridot Fahset-Smith,” Yellow Diamond said. Her secretary stood next to the desk, giving Peridot a smug grin. “I hear you have important news for me.”

 

Peridot hastily made the diamond sign with her hands and forearms. “My Diamond. Yes, ma’am, I believe you got my report—my scanners have picked up signals on the West Coast for life. My robots are not faulty.” 

 

Yellow rested her elbows on the desk and folded her hands together. “Show me.”

 

“The—the robot? It’s on the West Coast,” Peridot stammered.

 

Yellow Diamond rolled her eyes. “I have no doubt it is,” she muttered. “Show me the copy you brought me. I believe I requested you bring me at least a functional prototype?”

 

“Yes, yes,” Peridot said, almost reverting into her dismissive habits. She rummaged through her duffel bag, trying to get a good grip on her scanner. It was slippery; she might have spilled water in the bag, but everything in there was mostly waterproof. 

 

“That’s it,” Yellow Diamond said, staring unimpressed at the gray sphere Peridot held in her hands. “Please tell me it flies, or something.  _ This  _ is what we’re spending taxpayer money on?”

 

Peridot held up one finger. “I promise it works! And I produce lots of them, all crafted by hand. I have the blueprints here, if you want to see them?”

 

Yellow Diamond rolled her eyes and gestured for Peridot to unfurl the blueprints on her desk. Peridot shoved the scanner into Jasper’s huge hands, who held it with soldier stoicness. The blueprints had some water stains on them, but at least they weren’t dripping. Peridot looked closely: she didn’t think any of the ink had run. 

 

As Peridot explained to Yellow Diamond her scanner’s mechanics, the scanner in Jasper’s hands slowly turned on. It began to grow warm enough that Peridot could feel it where she stood five feet away. She snuck a glance at Jasper, who had closed her eyes in concentration. 

 

“You can drop it,” Peridot told Jasper. “It won’t break.” To emphasize her point, Peridot rubbed her foot on the worn carpet. Carpets were a luxury, one that was getting rarer as time went on: they weren’t specially produced anymore except by cloth weavers, and only if they wanted to. Most of them were old and motheaten. This one, in Yellow Diamond’s office, was finer than anything Peridot had ever stepped on. 

 

Jasper raised her eyebrows at Peridot, then dropped her robot, keeping eye contact. Peridot hid a wince. 

 

The robot hit the floor with a dull thud, and for a second Peridot thought she had miscalculated. Then an embedded headlamp lit up as a sign the scanner was online, and it began to roll around. When it hit the desk, Peridot nudged it with her foot to roll around to Yellow Diamond’s side. The secretary leapt out of the way as it rolled towards her, even though it wouldn’t be hot anymore. Peridot heard it hit the leg of Yellow Diamond’s chair—Yellow Diamond looked at it, and hmmed in consideration. 

 

The scanner flipped open its biometric scanner to make a scan of the room. It beeped four times—one for each person in the room—and paused for a moment, no doubt sending a report to Peridot’s lab. Then it continued on its way around the room. 

 

“Very interesting,” Yellow Diamond muttered. “And how many of these things did you say you have running around?”

 

“Um, thirty-seven, ma’am,” Peridot said. “In the BC series. I have some in the AB, CD, and DE series as well, forty of each. Well, not the AB series, that has only eight out and I just sent them on their way. Only the BC series has a long enough battery life to get to the West Coast and back, though the AB series can probably make it, but I haven’t tested it yet.”

 

“I see,” Yellow Diamond said, looking at the blueprints. “So this one is from the BC series? And the scanner that picked up life is also of the BC series.”

 

“Yes, my Diamond,” Peridot said, making the diamond sign with her hands again. 

 

“And you trust these scanners,” Yellow Diamond continued. “They would not have malfunctioned.”

 

“No, my Diamond.”

 

“Very well.” Yellow Diamond leaned back in her chair and held one of her hands delicately out in front of her. “Pearl.” The secretary snapped to attention. “I want a research and recovery team assembled by seven o’clock tonight. How long do you think this will take?”

 

The question was directed towards Peridot, and she answered with, “It depends on what kind of life we have discovered. If it’s a plant, we can look at a trip of a week and a half. If it’s people…” She let the sentence trail off for a moment. “We can expect a much, much longer expedition, though I’m not sure how long.”

 

“Very well,” Yellow Diamond. “Pearl, I want a three-person team that includes Doctor Fahset-Smith, a soil, air, and water expert, and a bodyguard in case they come across any trouble. Tell them all to clear their schedules for the foreseeable future. I want them deployed within the next two weeks with full training for life beyond the fence. Prepare a pod, hazmat suits, and supplies for the next three months. Doctor Peridot Fahset-Smith?”

 

Peridot snapped to attention and hastily made the diamond sign. “Yes, my Diamond?”

 

“You are dismissed.”

 

 

 


	2. Building 1044

Peridot got a message from Yellow Diamond later that night. She was at home, off from work, and tinkering around with one project or another. 

 

**RE: ATTENTION: STATUS OF LIFE OUTSIDE COLONY CHANGE**

 

Peridot picked up her tablet and read through the instructions as she heated a meal-for-one. Everyone had a microwave nowadays, so ready meals were common. They were cheap, and absolutely perfect for single (and loving it) people. 

 

The message demanded Peridot report to Building 1044 at the corner of D Street Northeast and 8th Street Northeast. She was to be there by eight a.m. to meet her teammates and begin training. 

 

There was other stuff, too, like what to bring—workout clothing and a duffel bag—and the specifics of that she would be learning. Peridot’s microwave beeped, and she finished making her meal-for-one. She sat down at her workbench and ate whenever she remembered; she was busy working on personal projects and reading through her report. 

 

Sleep was elusive. Peridot stayed up until the wee hours of the night, working on her projects. She used to get complaints from other people who lived in her building about the noise, but as time went on, they all adjusted. Now complaints were rare, except for the weekly letter from Mrs Johnson, who had never heard the term “lighten up.” 

 

Peridot didn’t know the end goal of her project. She hadn’t dug up any old blueprints like she usually did for these; this was just experimental. Maybe she was making a companion. 

 

Peridot wouldn’t say she was lonely—maybe a little bit, but not so much that she had to  _ fix _ that. She  _ liked _ living on her own. And it wasn’t like she didn’t have friends—everyone has friends—just not very  _ close _ ones. They were mostly her co-workers that she could really only tolerate half the time.  

 

But that was fine. Peridot was fine with being somewhat isolated or reclusive—it was when she had to interact with people for a long time that she started to feel nervous and bored. On her own, she could do whatever she wanted, but when she had other people around her, she was constrained by society's unspoken rules and limitations. It was simply easier to be herself, and be herself alone. 

 

***

 

Peridot didn’t go for a run the next morning. She woke up too late; she set an alarm when it was really important, but this time she was lulled into a false sense of security and slept through it. She barely had time to take a shower and brush her teeth. She knew her hair would be a mess—this wouldn’t be the best first impression she had ever given, that was for sure. 

 

Peridot barely had time for a wake-up pill before she grabbed her bag, poorly packed from the night before, and ran to her meeting point. She’d heard that the city used to have underground railway systems to make transportation easier. She almost wished the city still had those, if the idea didn’t sound so terrifying. Who wants tons of hard, cold earth above your head, while you hurtled through the dark at a million miles per hour? What would happen if you met a train going the opposite direction?

 

Still, Peridot thought she could see the appeal, especially after she ran for half an hour with her tried and true duffel bag. (It was heavy.) She was almost late, and she was sure  _ that _ would have made the worst impression, never mind her hastily tied bun and red face. 

 

She showed her ID card to the guard at the gate. He nodded her through, and Peridot was directed to a room with whitewashed walls and tall windows. She wasn’t the only person in there—the secretary from yesterday made an appearance, Pearl something, and behind her was the guard that had shown Peridot to Yellow Diamond’s office. That was it, though. 

 

The secretary spoke before Peridot could even open her mouth. “Dr Peridot Fahset-Smith. So pleased you could join us today.”

 

Peridot made an aborted motion, then committed to the diamond sign. “Ma’am. Is—where are the other members of my team?”

 

The guard behind the secretary made a soft noise. The secretary gave her guard a withering glare, then said, “Dr Lazuli seems to be running behind schedule. We’re supposed to make introductions for the next five minutes…. Oh well. Dr Peridot, this is your command unit and combat specialist, Jasper Lee-Stone.”

 

Peridot knew her face screwed up, though she made no effort to hide it. “Combat specialist? Why would I need a combat specialist?”

 

Jasper gave her a wicked grin. “You don’t know what’s out there, short stack. Could be dangerous. Could be a mutated bear.”

 

“Hah, yeah, okay,” Peridot muttered. “All this coming from a woman named  _ Jasper Stone. _ Your parents couldn’t have chosen a worse name.”

 

Jasper scowled, then huffed in laughter. She looked out the window at the shade of the tree’s leaves dancing on the pavement.

 

“Oh boy,” the secretary muttered. “Will you two make nice for at least the next five minutes? Or whenever Dr Lazuli shows up. Whichever comes first.”

 

Peridot looked at Jasper, but only for a moment. She tightened her grip on her duffel bag’s strap and shuffled her feet, trying to fill the silence with slight action. This quickly became boring.

 

Jasper fiddled with her hair—she had a huge mass of it, too. Last time Peridot had seen her it was in a bun, but today must have been less formal, because it was only in a ponytail. 

 

“This isn’t  _ your _ team,” Jasper said. She looked out the window and refused to make eye contact with Peridot. “I’m the command unit.”

 

Peridot scrunched her duffel bag strap and straightened up in indignation.  _ “What? _ But—but this is  _ my _ mission!  _ I’m _ the one that built the scanners!  _ I’m _ the one who sent the report!  _ I’m  _ the one who knows what she’s  _ doing!” _ Peridot couldn’t help herself—her voice rose to a scream, and a high-pitched one at that. The secretary winced and covered her ears, and Jasper’s brow furrowed. 

 

“Yes, despite that,” the secretary said, “Ms Lee-Stone has been named command unit due to her seniority and experience in the field. And, apparently, command of self superior to your own. Of course, if you have any complaints, please don’t hesitate to tell Yellow Diamond.”

 

Jasper shot Peridot a smug smirk from behind the secretary’s back. 

 

Peridot frowned. “But—but—”

 

The door swung open, and another woman walked in: the most noticeable thing about her was her bright blue hair. At least, just the tips of it. That and her bored countenance made the most striking impression: Peridot could feel the waves of annoyance (most likely at how early it was. Peridot could relate) emanating from her. 

 

Like she did with Peridot, the secretary said her part before the woman could even open her mouth: “Dr Lazuli. I see you’ve decided to grace us with your presence. Do have a seat, and we’ll begin with introductions and move to briefing.”

 

Jasper and Dr Lazuli shuffled around and brought together some wonky metal chairs. Peridot watched them for a moment, then realized that they were going to  _ sit _ on the chairs, and she ran to get one of her own. 

 

The secretary held a tablet in one hand and a pen in the other. “Dr Lazuli, you may go first. Please state your full name and job for this mission.”

 

“Doctor Lapis Jane Lazuli,” she said. Even her voice was bored: Peridot thought she would have been chewing bubble gum and relaxing against the back side of the gym while she skipped class, if they were still in school, and bubble gum wasn’t a waste of valuable rubber. “Terrarian specialist, geologist, water quality control, air quality control.”

 

The secretary nodded and made a couple notes. “Ms Lee-Stone.”

 

Jasper stood up. Where she was sitting, between Jasper and Dr Lazuli, Peridot barely made it to the middle of her thigh. “Jasper Ray Lee-Stone. Command unit and combat specialist.” She sat back down. 

 

“And Doctor Peridot,” the secretary said. She let the clipboard fall to her side.

 

Peridot stood up. Her duffel bag was still slung around her shoulder—she dropped it as subtly as she could. “Dr Peridot Abigail Fahset-Smith. I’m here because the scanner was made by me, so I’m doing maintenance and making sure all scanners we come across are functioning correctly.”

 

The secretary nodded. “You may sit down, Dr Fahset-Smith.” She looked at her clipboard. “You all are aware of the purpose of your mission. Dr Fahset-Smith here has discovered signs of life outside the colony. You three are to verify the truthfulness of Dr Fahset-Smith’s claim, and report on the progress of radioactivity throughout the continent.” 

 

Peridot tuned her out. She knew her mission—she knew what she had to do, and what the rest of her team was supposed to do. Whatever the secretary would say wouldn’t matter, unless it was about mutated bears or trees that could kill her. And even then it would be extremely impossible that those things would exist, because Peridot’s scanners would have picked up on them, and they hadn’t. So there. 

 

Jasper and Dr Lazuli both stood up with horrendous chair screeching, and Peridot knew she must have missed something. She leaped up and grabbed her duffel bag, then followed the secretary to the second floor of the building. 

 

The windows up here were smaller, though Peridot could see farther; some trees blocked the way, but she thought she could see the Palace through the leaves. In the quiet only broken by the shush of the leaves, Peridot thought she could catch a glimpse of the world before the war, when America was a beautiful place and summer was never too far away. 

 

It was summer now. The heat was oppressive—they used to have air conditioning before the war, but that was considered an unnecessary luxury, like cars, most television, and junk food. It was unnecessary luxuries like those that brought around greed and the end of the world as those who came before knew it. That’s what Peridot was taught in school, anyway, but she thought air conditioning must not have been too bad, if it would help cut the heat. 

 

Inside the room the secretary had lead them to were weight-lifting equipment and muscle builders. Peridot thought she could see a treadmill in the corner, but when she gave it a closer, more hopeful look, it was just another muscle builder. 

 

She looked at Dr Lazuli—bored—and then at Jasper, who looked like she was having the time of her life. The secretary smiled at Jasper, then said, “This room is where you’ll be spending your mornings. By the end of the next two weeks, you must be able to lift your weight, if not more. You will need to wear hazmat suits outside the fence whenever you step outside your pod, or even open the door. The radiation levels  _ will _ kill you if you are not wearing your suits. I cannot stress enough the importance of wearing your suits. But they are heavy, and you will be wearing them for extended periods of time.”

 

She closed the door to the equipment room, and Peridot sighed. She wouldn’t say she was weak, exactly, but her strength lay more in cardio than building muscle mass. It was Jasper who was the most excited. Dr Lazuli couldn’t have looked less interested. 

 

After the weight room came a garage, where a steel pod lay gleaming under green lights. Now  _ this _ was where Peridot got excited— _ this _ was where her interests lay. Mechanics. And the pod looked perfect—it obviously had hover technology, since no wheels were evident; the door must have been air pressured, because there was only a button on the side of the pod situated between two large windows. The pod was huge, too—about the size of Peridot’s entire apartment, probably bigger (though that wasn’t saying much). 

 

She couldn’t help herself. She burst out in joy, and said, “Is this a K-Line Pod? It’s so smooth! Where’d you get it? It must be a Model 79. Is it a Model 79? Oh my stars. I’ve always wanted to ride in a K-Line Pod.”

 

The secretary lifted her eyes to the ceiling, probably praying to her God for patience. Peridot had spotted the small, golden cross lying on her chest. “Yes, it’s a K-Line Pod, and yes, it’s a Model 79. We spare no expenses when it comes to missions beyond the fence.”

 

Peridot dropped her duffel bag and ignored the dull-but-loud sound it made, though the rest of her team (and indeed, a few people who were in the garage, modding the pod) jumped. She ran to put her hands on the pod, admiring the sheen. She couldn’t even see the joins in the metal! She could see her reflection!

 

“Anyway,” the secretary said, quite deliberately. Peridot listened to her, rapt. “This pod is what you’ll be taking to the West Coast. You three will be living and sleeping together in it for this entire journey, though we have included supplies and beds for up to six people in case you come across anyone. The pod is self-steering. We do not expect you to come across many obstacles—of course, the Mississippi River and the Rocky and Sierra Mountains, but the pod is well equipped to float over the river and fly through the mountains. It may become slightly turbulent, though that is to be expected.

 

“We expect you to make periodic stops through your journey to record the state of the soil, air, and water. There may be pockets that are not fully saturated with radiation, though they will be rare and few in between. Your records will be valuable even if you do not find these pockets; we are checking the levels of radiation and how they have gone down through the years.”

 

The secretary stopped talking and let Peridot coo over the pod for another minute. (Peridot didn’t know how she went all this time without drinking some water.) Peridot was grateful for the minute she got—she didn’t often (she never) got a chance to see K-Line Pods. They were for the  _ elite, _ and Peridot was far from elite—though she had the feeling that might change, and soon. 

 

Reluctantly, Peridot pulled herself away from the pod. It truly was one of the most magnificent things she’d ever seen. The secretary led them to another room, this one filled with a multitude of vials and vats of chemicals. Peridot didn't see the purpose of the room, but Dr Lazuli looked more excited than Peridot had ever seen her. Not that she’d seen her a lot.

 

“This is your laboratory,” the secretary said. “Here, you’ll find all the tools you would on the pod. You three must learn how to use them—you will be living on the pod for at least the next week and a half. By the time these next two weeks are over, I expect you to know the ins and outs of everything relating to your mission.” She turned smartly on her heel and walked out of the room, her little entourage following behind her.

 

“Jasper, you’ll like the next room,” the secretary called over her shoulder. “Strategy and Mapping. You like war, don’t you?”

 

Peridot glanced up at Jasper. Her face had gone tight; Peridot didn't know what that meant, but she suspected it was nothing good. Jasper remained silent, and the secretary laughed quietly to herself. 

 

“That’s what I thought,” she muttered to herself. “Not so high and mighty above the rest of us, are you.”

 

Peridot watched Jasper still, waiting for her to show some reaction. Apparently, she could wait forever, because Jasper stayed true to her name—Stone. Peridot wondered what had happened in Jasper’s past to make her so carefully stoic. Whatever it was, it was sure to come up in polite conversation. They were going to spend weeks together, after all. 

 

The secretary pushed open a heavy oak door. They were back on the second story; Peridot thought they were in the adjacent house, connected after the war. The room was entirely different from what Peridot had seen before. 

 

Inside the room, which must have been a study in by-gone years, a large oak desk sat in front of wide windows. Maps hung on the walls—no, they hung hiding bookshelves. The shelves under the maps were empty, and when a breeze blew through the room, the maps clung to empty shelves. Books and paper weren’t rare, per se, but they had to be repurposed, and new ones were rarely made. It was more efficient to use chalk slates, which could be erased time and time again, and recycled. 

 

On the desk was another huge map, this one of the entire continent of North America. Peridot resisted the urge to touch it. She knew it must be old—interstate highways still traced through the states, and the old borders between the United States, Canada, and Mexico were present. Pretty stones held the map down at each of the four corners, and several obvious markers were scattered over the map, most on the East coast. Actually—Peridot looked closer, her eyes squinting— _ all _ the markers were on the East coast. She wondered what they stood for. 

 

“We’ll be tracing your mission through this,” the secretary said in her nasally voice. She straightened and clutched her clipboard. “When I say  _ we, _ what I mean is  _ you. _ You three must learn to work together if you want any hope of survival.”

 

Peridot looked at her teammates. Jasper remained stoic, her face shuttered against the room. Dr Lazuli’s attitude hadn’t changed since she arrived—still bored as ever. Peridot thought she herself might have been the only one among them that had any emotion beyond  _ bored  _ or  _ traumatized. _

 

“This is where I leave you,” the secretary said. She unclipped a few sheets of paper from her clipboard and passed them out. “These are your schedules for the next two  weeks. By next Friday, we expect you to have a fully planned mission and to be fully prepared for any and all circumstances. You will report here every day at eight for training and preparation, take a break for lunch at twelve, and leave at five. You have been excused from your jobs for the time being. On Friday, report to the Palace for your official send-off. Do I make myself clear?”

 

Peridot looked at her teammates. After a moment, it was apparent that they weren’t going to answer, either out of lethargy or some disturbed past. Peridot spoke for them. “Crystal.”

 

***

 

Peridot was the one who made conversation with her teammates. Neither of them seemed very interested in the mission; Peridot couldn’t imagine why not. This kind of mission was incredibly rare. Only a couple similar missions were undertaken in Peridot’s lifetime, and none as far as they were going. 

 

Peridot only realized who Dr Lazuli  _ really _ was about five days after they had met. Their superiors had requested they dine together to prepare for their mission. These meals were basically silent, despite Peridot’s efforts. They did  _ everything  _ together—everything but sleep and use the bathroom, it seemed. And even then, Peridot would see Jasper wash her hands about every time she herself had to use the ancient toilets. 

 

Maybe it was Dr Lazuli’s hair that tipped her off, or maybe it was the way she held her fork, like how Peridot had seen on her office building’s state television a couple years ago. Either way, Peridot had stopped eating to stare at Dr Lazuli, and she had definitely had noticed. 

 

“Can I help you with anything?” Dr Lazuli asked pointedly. 

 

“You’re her, aren’t you,” Peridot replied slowly. “Dr Lazuli. You were found after disappearing outside the fence.”

 

Dr Lazuli clinked her fork against the side of her plate, then speared a nameless steamed vegetable. Peridot silently swallowed. 

 

“Yeah,” Dr Lazuli said. “I prefer not to talk about it.”

 

Peridot pushed a couple vegetables around on her plate. “Okay.”

 

_ Everyone _ knew about Lapis Lazuli, whose previous mission outside the fence had failed miserably. The mission was supposed to be ground-breaking, going farther than anyone had ever been before. Pictures of ruined cities—Chicago, Salt Lake City, Las Vegas—were broadcast over state television whenever Lazuli’s old team sent them back. It was a mass televised event—Peridot herself had followed it almost religiously. And then radio silence erupted—everyone thought they had died of radiation poisoning, but nothing was confirmed by the Diamonds. 

 

Then, a couple years ago, about a month after the mission had started, Lapis Lazuli was found outside the fence, still in her radiation suit, dirty and bruised but miraculously unripped. She was brought in, and everyone thought she was going to die and kill everyone inside the colony—but there wasn’t a hint of radiation on her. Tests were televised, and the state televisions followed Lazuli 24/7. They saw her eat, sleep, and be interviewed by Yellow and Blue Diamonds. That was the first time Peridot had seen her Diamond’s face outside of posters and the still image displayed over state televisions when nothing else was showing. 

 

Over time, interest in Lapis Lazuli dropped. Her teammates had died of radiation, sure, but Lazuli’s suit had survived and she made her way back to the colony to be safe once more. The television moved onto more interesting events. 

 

And now Dr Lazuli was sitting in front of Peridot, eating vegetables steamed beyond recognition, a bored expression carefully placed on her face. Peridot would admit to staring. Jasper didn’t say much—she never did—but Peridot saw her sneaking looks at Dr Lazuli herself. 

 

There were a couple holes in Dr Lazuli’s story. No one knew what had happened to her pod—unless Peridot just couldn’t remember. They’d never retrieved her teammates bodies. And no one knew how Dr Lazuli had travelled from Death Valley in an already warm radiation suit to the East Coast of America with little water and no food. 

 

Peridot tried some of the vegetables. They were broccoli.

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Raleigh's were a pretty bad family.
> 
> Sorry the plot's so slow. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask!


	3. I Trusted You

Yellow Diamond didn’t show up to the send-off, but her secretary made an appearance. Peridot began to think Yellow Diamond didn’t ever leave the Palace, but she knew her Diamond made regular trips down south to Blue Diamond and attended parades in her honor. 

 

There were speeches held for the send-off, made by high ranking officials. There was one by Evelyn Sapphire Monroe that Peridot really paid attention to—about the mistakes of the past paving the way for the advancements of the future. It was a short speech, but when Peridot looked over at Dr Lazuli, her carefully blank mask was back in place.  _ The mistakes of the past.  _ Dr Lazuli must have thought the deaths of her friends weren’t  _ mistakes. _

 

The rain drizzled down. Peridot thought it should have been a bright sunny day, given the occasion, but too often the weather did not cooperate. And it wasn’t heavy enough to allow the use of a tent; as a result, Peridot’s hair became saturated with water, and she was sure Jasper’s hair was wet as well from where their team stood in front of their pod, still gleaming despite the rain. 

 

While they listened to speeches, with television cameras pinned to their faces, Peridot snuck a sideways glance at Dr Lazuli. She had her head tilted back and her eyes closed, seeming to welcome the rain. It would be the first time in maybe months that they would get rain that wasn’t saturated with radiation. Peridot stuck a hand out behind her and let the gentle rain collect on her fingers. 

 

The band played a peppy tune—Peridot couldn’t remember what it was called, only that it was ancient. It was the cue to board the pod, and Peridot turned to wave at the television cameras and the crowd that had gathered. There weren’t many empty chairs, even with the weather. 

 

As the pod door slid closed behind them, the cheering of the crowd hushed. Peridot could only hear the level of a whisper. She stretched her hand out to touch the smooth door of the pod, but paused before contact. Not only would that open the door, causing mass embarrassment, but since the door slid shut, Peridot was neatly separated from everyone and everything she knew. 

 

Jasper made a beeline for the front of the pod, where she would set them on their course. Peridot and Dr Lazuli trailed after her, lacking anything better to do. 

 

The windows at the front of the pod encompassed the entire wall from floor to ceiling. They had started in the center of the city, and as the pod made its way through the streets, people lined up to wave flags and cheer at them. Peridot heard a click behind her, and turned to see Dr Lazuli lowering a camera. She raised an eyebrow at Peridot, silently challenging her to question her. Before Peridot could look away, Jasper pushed through them and into the main room of the pod. 

 

Dr Lazuli disappeared into her own storage closet—bedroom, rather. Peridot guessed the camera was one of the personal items Dr Lazuli had brought along. Peridot had brought along her current personal project and everything she needed to finish it. She cast a glance at her own storage closet, then went back to the front of the pod to watch the world go by. 

 

The pod moved with relative speediness. Peridot couldn’t complain—it beat walking to the west coast, at least. As they got closer to the edge of the city, and beyond that the fence, the crowd faded away, until it was really just old grandmothers hanging out of windows, their grandchildren poking out of the corners and waving tiny flags. 

 

It was flat farmland all the way to the fence. Rows and rows of corn and wheat—Peridot supposed she should be grateful for the food, because she sure wasn't growing her own, but out here it looked so… empty. Peridot couldn’t even try to pretend there were things out in the fields, waving the stalks back and forth. 

 

Peridot watched the fence loom in the distance. It was tall, and opaque, though Peridot could see very little behind it. There were a few people mulling around, wearing radiation suits and acting generally bored. In Peridot’s mind, they all looked like Dr Lazuli. 

 

As they neared the fence, the guards scrambled to open the opaqueness. They all zipped up their suits, put on helmets and gloves—Peridot saw a couple of them rush to put duct tape over the cracks and tears. It was all very slapdash. Peridot considered letting Yellow Diamond know, but it surely wasn’t causing any harm. 

 

Slowly, the land beyond the fence came into view. Peridot’s eyes jumped up to the top of the fence, where a red flashing light washed over the landscape, turning it red and dark in turns. The pod slid inexhaustibly forward, and the red alarm faded from view rather abruptly. Peridot imagined a blaring siren accompanying the flash, though in their protective bubble, Peridot heard nothing. 

 

It was… eerie. That was the best word to describe what Peridot saw. 

 

For miles and miles around, as far as the eye could see, there was simply nothing. No buildings, no trees, not even grass—the world was barren, an empty tomb without even the skeleton of what used to be. For brief moments, it was red, washed in the light of the alarm of the fence.

 

The fence slid shut behind them. Peridot felt herself go cold—this was  _ it. _ She was  _ outside the fence. _ If she stepped outside—if her suit malfunctioned—if she was stabbed in the back by her teammates—no one would ever know. She would decompose in the desolate wind blowing over them, without any animals or even large bacteria helping her body along. Her bones would become so radioactive that they would collapse on themselves, fine as dust. She would be forgotten. 

 

Involuntarily, her body shuddered violently. She clenched her fists and made a low, funny sound, then squeezed her eyes closed. Maybe if she ignored it, the world would go away. 

 

Splatters of rain on the outside window shook Peridot out of her trance. The storm was picking up—even with the sound proofness, Peridot heard the screaming wind blow sand and dust around their pod. Peridot watched with some trepidation—if a big rock were to crack the windshield…. 

 

No. That  _ wasn’t _ going to happen. This was a Model 79 K-Line Pod—practically indestructible. Of course it could withstand a sandstorm like this. Peridot watched tiny particles of dirt and sand rain against the windshield, along with the actual rain making the windshield a mess of mud and wet sand. Peridot activated the windshield wipers and made a face as the mud slid away. 

 

There was nothing else to see. Maybe if they went further, beyond the rainstorm, they'd see something. Maybe a ruined city, or a mountain range. The continent wasn’t all flat. There was bound to be  _ something  _ interesting out there. 

 

“First time beyond the fence, huh,” Jasper said. Peridot jumped and made a funny sound, but beyond that, she stayed quiet. 

 

Jasper softly laughed to herself. “I know that look. You’ll see—there’s nothing out there for miles and miles and… forever, actually.” The smile slipped from her face, and she walked to the window. The outside was treated to a glare that could melt the thick glass of the windshield. 

 

With a sudden movement that made Peridot jump, Jasper clicked a small button, and the windshield quickly turned dark, tinted so much that Peridot couldn’t see the outside. Jasper muttered to herself— “There’s nothing to see anyway.” That might have been true, but at least it was better than sitting inside a tiny pod with two other women who wanted nothing to do with her. Jasper only gave Peridot a small glance before pushing past her and into the main area. 

 

“Lapis won’t come out of her room for a while,” Jasper said, her back turned to Peridot. She was doing something on the table, but Peridot could only see her thick ponytail swing back and forth. “I don’t know what’s wrong with her. She used to be so full of life, and then….”

 

Jasper didn’t have to finish her sentence. Peridot knew what she meant, and they were both quiet in their own thoughts. 

 

“She’s never been the same,” Jasper finally finished. “I miss who she used to be.”

 

“So you two knew each other,” Peridot said, her voice raspy with disuse. She coughed a couple times. “How?”

 

Jasper stilled for a moment. She looked to the right, and Peridot could see the barest hints of her profile. Roman nose and square chin. Jasper had a handsome face, and if Peridot didn’t know her gruff personality, she might have been slightly attracted. Then Jasper finished whatever she was doing with a sharp pull of her arms that might have been tying a large knot. 

 

“We worked together,” Jasper said. Peridot waited for a second to see if she would say anything else, but apparently she could wait forever.  

 

“Like  _ that _ wasn’t a vague answer,” Peridot muttered. In the small space, Jasper must have heard, but she gave no response. She still had her back facing Peridot, though she made no pretense of working on anything. Her head hung between her shoulders, braced on the table. 

 

Peridot wisely kept her silence. It would be a long few weeks ahead of them, and she didn’t want to turn her teammates against herself. 

 

Waiting Jasper out actually worked, too. She sighed and said, “We used to work in the same building. I did security, Lapis did some science stuff—I can’t tell you what it was, I don’t remember. She was always a slight person, like a bird—you know how it is. People with hollow bones are built for flight. She dreamed of going outside, swimming in the ocean, practically flying through the salt spray. If she could fly, she would. 

 

“We’d see each other every day, because I had to check her ID card to allow her inside. I knew her picture better than I knew her face. If I close my eyes, I can still see her picture, her smile….” Jasper paused for a long moment, and Peridot pressed a few buttons on a machine. 

 

“We went to get lunch together a few times. Then we—we started a relationship… I liked her spirit. I don’t know what she saw in me. I suppose it doesn’t matter—our relationship turned sour real quick. Neither of us did good things, neither of us really wanted to stay—but neither of us left. Then she left on her trip to the outside. It was everything she ever wanted. The outside. Freedom. 

 

“When she came back, she told me she never wanted to see my face again. I had been reassigned to the Palace in the meanwhile, so it was easy to forget our relationship and everything it meant.” Jasper turned to look at Dr Lazuli’s door, opened her mouth, then closed it again. 

 

The machine beeped, and Peridot grabbed the warm mug to offer Jasper some coffee. They both sat across the table and sipped their drinks quietly. Coffee was a rarity and a true luxury. The fact that they had included a machine promised great things for Peridot when she went back to the colony. 

 

“It was especially cruel of them to assign us both to this mission,” Jasper muttered. She set her mug down, and Peridot tried to read her face. There was nothing but the sad kind of anger, dulled over time but not forgotten. 

 

“Nothing really bad has ever happened to me,” Peridot said quietly. Jasper sipped her coffee and watched Peridot over the rim of her mug, probably wondering if she would say anything else. Peridot didn’t know that answer herself. 

 

“Then you are incredibly lucky,” Jasper said after a long moment. “Hope that nothing bad will happen to you.”

 

“I do,” Peridot said. “Hope. I think the worst thing that happened to me is when my parents died. Were killed.” She paused to collect her thoughts. “It was a few years ago. And—of course—people die all the time. This wasn’t. It wasn’t any different. The radiation.” She looked at Jasper’s eyes, trying to get her to understand what she was saying, actually  _ saying.  _ “The radiation killed them.”

 

Jasper sipped her coffee and said nothing. Peridot thought she saw something in her eyes that said  _ I understand. _

 

They sat in silence for a very long time. They both finished their coffees, then sat some more, too occupied in their thoughts to think. It was okay—there was a sense of camaraderie that wasn’t there before. Peridot thought she understood Jasper a little bit better. 

 

Dr Lazuli’s door hissed open, and the feeling vanished. She paused in her doorframe, pinned by Jasper’s and Peridot’s gazes. She ignored Peridot to instead send Jasper a cool gaze, and after a moment, Jasper studied the bottom of her mug instead. Peridot would have thought her a coward, but that wasn’t quite right. 

 

“We have to check the levels of radiation outside now,” Dr Lazuli said. She directed her gaze toward the closet for radiation suits and walked in a way that made Peridot not want to look at her in case Dr Lazuli decided to kill her. 

 

Peridot got to her feet, leaving her mug behind on the table. Either she’d reuse it later for water or she’d wash it out, but right now, she was on a mission. The mission took priority in everything. 

 

The three dressed out in silence. They had to reuse old prison jumpsuits modified with lead, air tanks, helmets, gloves, and boots for radiation suits. Peridot’s number was 110953. Before she duct taped her gloves on, she rubbed her fingers over the faded patch. The suit was a little too large, but Peridot stood under five feet. She was used to having big clothes and fitting into small spaces. 

 

Peridot was placed between Jasper and Dr Lazuli, and they all dressed in silence. The tension spilling from the others made the silence uncomfortable and awkward. Peridot was almost relieved when she slipped her helmet on, and the silence was mandatory, not forcefully voluntary. She gave Dr Lazuli a thumbs up, and behind her Jasper did the same. Dr Lazuli hit a button, and the first pair of sealed doors hissed open, letting them into a room bathed with red light. 

 

They had to wait for the first pair of doors to slide firmly closed and beep to open the outside doors. They took the time between the closing of the doors and the beep—almost five minutes—to check each other’s suits for improperly taped gloves and boots and helmets or tears. If there was even one mistake, they would have to go back and redo everything. There were no mistakes. 

 

Dr Lazuli pressed another button to the side of the outside doors, and the pod slid to a gentle halt. As one, the three women leaned to one side, then righted themselves, as the g-forces commanded them to. After another beep, this one of a lower tone than the first, Dr Lazuli pressed yet another button, and the doors to the outside slid slowly open. 

 

The sunlight was blinding. Somewhere in the time Peridot spent talking with Jasper, the storm had stopped, leaving behind only clouds that shone yellow. There might have been a metallic scent in the air, but if Peridot had smelled it, that would have meant very, very bad things for all of them. 

 

There was a fat load of nothing outside. Peridot had expected nothing different, but the emptiness still hurt in a very odd way. This was more than the loss of civilization. This was the loss of the world. 

 

Dr Lazuli pushed past Peridot to crouch down a ways from the pod and open her tool box. All radiation tests had to be conducted outside. It was far too dangerous to bring samples into the pod. 

 

Jasper was standing watch by the door, ready to call Peridot and Dr Lazuli inside if there was any sign of trouble on the horizon. Peridot had jotted down their coordinates, the time of day, and the sample number on both labels and her log book. They needed to keep careful records of what they did here. She kept the labels close by, ready to discard if they weren’t needed, but the log book stayed inside. It was too precious to expose to the radiation. 

 

As Dr Lazuli fiddled with her instruments, Peridot looked toward where they had come from. In the far distance, the fence separating the colony from the outside glimmered. Sun rays peeped out from behind clouds and illuminated the dirt and stone for miles around. It would be beautiful if it wasn’t so desolate. 

 

Sooner than Peridot would like, Dr Lazuli was finished. There was no need for the labels, so Peridot left them on the ground, the radiation no doubt already chewing its way through the thin paper. This sort of littering would never have been allowed in the colony—you didn’t throw away things in the colony at all—but out here, there was no one to give Peridot a rap on the knuckles. 

 

Jasper waited until Peridot boarded the pod to climb in herself. Dr Lazuli waited for Jasper to climb in to close the door with a very long beep—there was a lot of waiting for people in this procedure—but as she pushed past Peridot to wait for the showers, Peridot realized Dr Lazuli didn’t want to be anywhere near Jasper. Peridot was kept right in the middle of Jasper and Dr Lazuli at all times. She didn’t know if her short frame would be much of a buffer for the two, though it must be a relief to have a person next to you that you didn’t have a horrible past with. 

 

With a sharp click, the disinfection shower came on. It was the same Red Room as before, with ten thousand buttons (that was an exaggeration) and a shower. Peridot scrubbed herself down and helped her teammates do the same—whatever chemicals they put in the water compounded with the outside chemicals to make the half-life of the radiation much, much faster. It took only about ten minutes until they were cleared to take off their suits. In the meanwhile, they tried not to breathe—the same chemicals that made the radiation break down quickly also made the reaction much, much more effective, and the lead that lined the reused jumpsuits almost wouldn’t be enough. There was nothing you could do but hold your breath and hope. 

 

After every procedure, where Dr Lazuli filled out the logbook in silence, there was nothing to do except wait for the next stop and sit and drink coffee. Whatever Jasper had been working on the table had disappeared; Peridot didn’t especially care enough to track where it had gone. It was sure to be harmless, besides. 

 

Jasper went to another supply closet, this one holding provisions for the trip. She came back with a can of beans for them to share, though Dr Lazuli had disappeared into her room the second she could break away. Well, she could starve. She needed to swallow her pride and whatever horrible past so she could eat. Honestly? Peridot was just looking out of Dr Lazuli. It was really in her best interests to make sure Dr Lazuli ate something. 

 

Jasper disappeared into her room and brought back a book, which she cracked open and read as she ate her reheated beans. Peridot sat awkwardly. There wasn’t much to do; only read, like Jasper, or work on her personal project. She was almost getting attached to that thing. The software coding wasn’t complete yet, as it wasn’t entirely her area of expertise, but Peridot was sure she’d get through it. 

 

Like the labels from earlier, the empty can of beans could be littered. Peridot shoved it into a little tube that worked the same way as the Red Room, though the beeps were softer and Peridot didn’t have to press any buttons. With a soft  _ thunk  _ sound, the can vanished into the vast wasteland of the outside. 

 

* * *

 

The journey took many days, and all the days looked the same. Peridot would have lost count, except she kept the log book updated well.

 

It fell to Peridot to do the wash up ninety percent of the time. The pod had running water—thank goodness, or taking a shower and using the toilet would suck—but Peridot timed herself harshly. Jasper always hung around to watch her work, though why, Peridot couldn’t tell. 

 

Late one night, maybe four or five days into their journey, there came a knock on Peridot’s door. Peridot had stayed up late to work on her project, and she got goosebumps. That was incredibly odd, for anyone to be knocking at her door. 

 

Even odder—it was Dr Lazuli who stood on the other side of the door, her bored expression traded for something darker. All the worries and fears Peridot had had about the mission came rushing back in an instant.  _ No one  _ would know if she died out here. And worse—no one knew what had actually happened to Lazuli's old teammates. It was impossible to know. 

 

“We need to talk about Jasper,” Lazuli started with. She stared down at Peridot with something brewing behind her eyes, and Peridot was too scared to say no to her. 

 

“I won’t help you kill her!” Peridot blurted out involuntarily. She clapped her hand over her mouth, but Lazuli didn’t deign a response. She brushed past Peridot to sit on the bed provided, and Peridot cleared away stray machine grease and tiny parts as best she could. Her room was a mess, highly accentuated when Peridot saw it through an outsider’s eyes. 

 

“She’s dangerous,” Lazuli said, not waiting for Peridot to settle down. Her eyes followed Peridot as she rushed around the room. “I’ve seen the way she looks at you. That's not a good look, believe me.”

 

“Yeah?” Peridot muttered. She put her hands on her hips and inspected her room. It was as good as it was going to get, so she refocused her entire attention to Lazuli. “Why do you say that?”

 

“It means she’s interested in you. I was on the receiving end of that interest a long time ago, and trust me, it won’t work out.” Lazuli looked out the tiny porthole window in Peridot’s room. They all had one, though none of them opened.

 

“Well, the way she says it, you weren’t the best partner either,” Peridot said. She thought she looked intimidating with her hands on her hips, and the fact that she was standing up probably helped. “What actually happened between you?”

 

Lazuli kept looking out the window. “She… well, Jasper didn’t have the best upbringing. She told me her parents pushed her to be hard and tough, so there’s no room to be gentle—and she can’t stand having arguments with people. And she—well. She hit me.” Lazuli paused. 

 

“I’m so sorry,” Peridot said in the silence. She dropped her arms to let them swing at her side. “I didn’t realize. I mean, I had my suspicions, but—”

 

“I wasn’t good to her either,” Lazuli interrupted, like she hadn’t heard Peridot at all. She probably hadn’t. “I kept her in a relationship she wanted to leave. I goaded her on, and poked at her anger—I think that’s what made her hit me more. She wouldn’t have done it if I didn't make her.”

 

The way Lazuli spoke made Peridot think of the view outside. She was flat and dry and expressionless. The bored countenance was back. 

 

“I had to know where she was at all times,” Lazuli continued, dry as the desert hurtling past their windows. “She couldn’t go places without telling me where she was. I don’t know why I wanted her all to myself—I should have just let her go….”

 

Peridot blinked. “Why are you telling me all of this?”

 

Lazuli shook her head and stared at her feet. “I just… I want you to know. In case Jasper… in case you two start dating. I don’t want what happened between us to ever happen again.”

 

Peridot grasped at her hands, unsure of what to do, what to say. Her mouth opened and closed like a fish gasping for water—what should she say next? 

 

“You don’t have to worry about any of that,” Peridot finally spit out. She glanced at Lazuli, who sat frozen, her hands tucked underneath her thighs. It was a surprisingly childish move. Peridot was distracted for what felt like the longest moment so far. 

 

“You don’t, um,” Peridot repeated, swallowing past the dry spot in her throat, “you don’t have to worry about that. I’m not interested in Jasper.” She had to look away to save herself. 

 

Lazuli stayed in Peridot’s supply cabinet for much longer than was comfortable. Peridot clenched and unclenched her feet and hands. She didn’t like it when almost complete strangers were in her space, especially spaces this tiny and cramped—Lazuli needed to leave, and soon. 

 

“Can I hug you?” Lazuli whispered, deafening. Her voice was high and shivery, and something cold inside Peridot cracked. She nodded, and gently approached the bed. She wasn’t sure what to do. Lazuli’s hands were still tucked under her thighs. Peridot watched them as they shifted, then escaped and rubbed vigorously over her thighs. That was one of the best ways to calm yourself down, Peridot knew, from nights spent kneading the muscles under her skin, rhythmic and comforting. 

 

Peridot stood at the edge of her bed, waiting for Lazuli to move. She kept her look steadily down, staring at the brown roots of Lazuli’s hair. Lazuli glanced up, then quickly looked back down at the area of Peridot’s midsection. 

 

Peridot placed a hand on Lazuli’s head. Lazuli’s eyes slipped closed, and she placed a hand on Peridot’s waist, on the side of where her stomach would be. Slowly, she pulled Peridot closer, until her forehead rested on Peridot’s stomach comfortably. Peridot’s hand that didn’t sit on Lazuli’s head decided to sit on Lazuli’s shoulder instead. In a moment, obviously impulsive, Lazuli tightened her grip on Peridot’s waist, bringing both arms to wrap around Peridot’s midsection. For a moment, Peridot thought she was surprised, then realized there was nothing to be surprised about. 

 

“Are you—” Peridot didn’t finish her sentence. She didn’t know what she was going to say anyway, but apparently, her mouth did. “Are you going to stay here?”

 

Lazuli took a deep breath. “I don’t think so. I just kind of needed a hug. Is that—is that okay?”

 

“Of course,” Peridot said. They were silent for a moment more. “I think leaving has to accompany  _ letting me go.” _

 

“Of course, of course,” Lazuli said, drawing her hands away from Peridot’s midsection. She didn’t look up at Peridot, choosing instead the opposite wall as her subject of attention as she rose from the bed. “I’ll see you in the morning, then.”

 

“See you,” Peridot muttered, watching Lazuli beat a hasty retreat. 

 

Long after the door closed, Peridot was frozen next to her bed, trying to feel a lingering warmth from where Lazuli had held her. 

 

* * *

 

“We’re getting closer,” Jasper said, studying a map. Peridot clinked her spoon against the side of her bowl. 

 

“We’ve got to hit Las Vegas before we cross Death Valley, though, so I can check the water levels,” Jasper continued. “Well, so you two can check the water levels. I don’t know my way around this stupid ship.”

 

Lazuli flexed her fingers and inspected her nails. She hadn’t come to Peridot’s room again since that one night a few days ago. Peridot allowed her her space. 

 

“Okay,” Peridot said, because silence hung awkwardly in the air, and it always fell to Peridot to fill it. 

 

“We’ll land in Las Vegas in a couple hours,” Jasper said. She tapped her fingers on the side of the table. “Lapis, can we talk?”

 

“No.” Lazuli stood up from the table and disappeared into her room, leaving her breakfast half-eaten. Jasper sighed. 

 

“Oof,” Peridot said, trying to get a reaction from Jasper. “Sorry about that.”

 

Jasper closed her eyes and fiddled with her hair. “I wasn’t expecting anything anyway.”

 

“Still,” Peridot said, tilting her head the way the word demanded. “That was rough. Do you want me to talk to her?” The moment she said it, she hoped Jasper would say no. 

 

Jasper did indeed say no. “We need to work this out on our own terms. I was just hoping she’d be  _ ready _ to talk to me.”

 

“She just needs time, I guess,” Peridot said. She sheltered her coffee mug in her hands. “What she told me… it seemed like a real bad relationship.”

 

“It was.” Jasper put her head in her hands and rested her elbows on the table. “God… sometimes I feel like… I have to have her back. I feel like we were stronger together. That we could  _ fly. _ And then it all comes rushing back—how awful it all actually was.”

 

“Are you sure  _ you’re _ ready for that conversation?” Peridot asked. She hesitated. “What would you even say to her?”

 

“I don’t know,” Jasper stated, quite simply. “I just want to have the chance to talk to her.”

 

“You’re not letting her go,” Peridot said, her voice subconsciously lowered enough to sound deafening. “You keep lingering on the person she used to be, the relationship you had. You’re more than that. So is she. You have to let her go eventually.”

 

Jasper was silent for an infinite moment, then stood up. Her hair was down today, and as she looked out the front window, it hid her face from view. All Peridot could see was her Roman, royal nose. 

 

“I’ll let you know when we land in Las Vegas,” Jasper murmured. “You should get some rest. You can’t get enough sleep, with how you fiddle around with your machines all night.”

 

“I get enough sleep,” Peridot groused. “See you in a few.”

 

* * *

 

Lazuli had taken several pictures of the ruins of Las Vegas. Cracked asphalt still lay over the arid desert soil; the skeletons of hotels and casinos (quite outdated concepts) rose high in the sky. The bright colors of the infamous Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas sign flashed at Peridot as they drove by. Sure, the colors had faded slightly, the red turning to pink and the blue turning lighter than the clouds in the sky, but the feeling was still there. If Peridot had been a tourist five hundred years ago, she would have bullied her way to the front to get a photo of herself with it. 

 

The water tank could be accessed from the inside of the pod, thank goodness. The levels were fine. There was even more than expected—only about a gallon, but it looked like Peridot’s strict dish washing regimen was helping them out. 

 

No levels of lethal radiation either, which Lazuli felt good about. She preened silently, and Peridot just had to roll her eyes. 

 

“So we’re good to go over Death Valley,” Peridot confirmed. Both Jasper and Lazuli nodded at her, then pretended they hadn’t noticed. “How long will this segment take?”

 

“Twelve hours,” Lazuli said. “Maybe less, I don’t know how fast this pod can go.”

 

“We’re not pushing the pod as fast as it could go,” Jasper said. “Twelve hours is right.”

 

Silence immediately pushed against the corners of the pod. Peridot needed to make a sound—any sound—but she just couldn’t bring herself to. 

 

It took maybe ten minutes of none of them saying a single word or making a single movement for Lazuli to crack. She didn’t look at Jasper. She didn’t look at anything as she spoke. 

 

“You’re right,” Lazuli whispered. “We should talk. But we’re not—I heard you, you know, when you told Fahset-Smith about wanting to date me again. I don’t want to—”

 

“How much did you hear?” Jasper’s voice was deep and rumbly. 

 

“I don’t—enough. I heard enough. You want to  _ take me back, _ you want things to go back to the way they were, when you weren’t—we weren’t—”

 

“I  _ never _ want to be in a relationship with you ever again,” Jasper growled. Her hands clenched at her sides. “I never want to be in a  _ relationship, _ period, ever again. What you did—what  _ I _ did—it wasn’t  _ right. _ It made me look at myself.  _ Never _ again will I let myself do what I did. There is no excuse.”

 

Lazuli was at a loss for words. “But—huh. It’s—it’s so odd, Jasper. I  _ needed _ you. I—I  _ hated _ you, I didn’t want to be around you, I wanted to—I wanted to  _ destroy _ you.”

 

“You couldn’t,” Jasper muttered.

 

“I had to take all of this  _ anger _ out on  _ something, _ and there you were, willing to throw yourself down at my feet. But—what we had wasn’t healthy. It was  _ wrong.” _

 

“We were both wrong,” Jasper muttered again, trying to cut through Lazuli’s monologue. 

 

“I never want to feel like I felt with you. Never again.”

 

The tableau was quite poetic, actually, in Peridot’s eye. Jasper watched the world pass by, an endless desert, outside the front window. Lazuli stood strong, her hands held tight at her sides, her face finally opened and filled with determination. Jasper looked over her shoulder at her. 

 

“We’re both old,” Jasper finally said. She didn’t sound broken yet, but it was close. “I’m pushing forty-five. I’ve been through more  _ shit  _ than what should be possible.” Peridot put a small hand over her mouth at the profanity, though it shouldn’t have shocked her like it did. Jasper bulled on. “If we’re going to enjoy the rest of our lives, we need to put this behind us and learn to live with each other.”

 

“I know,” Lazuli said. “It’ll be hard.”

 

“Everything’s going to be hard,” Jasper replied. “Everything  _ has _ been hard. It was hard trying to work up the courage to ask you out. It was hard knowing I’d have to stay with you. It was hard once I realized you’d have to stay with  _ me.” _

 

“There’s no way to make it easier, is there.”

 

“I wish there was.”

 

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whoop sorry this is more than a month late but like. Don't have a lot of readers on this one and I do have some other obligations. 
> 
> Some important things get done in this chapter! The big send-off, the relationship Jasper and Lapis had in the past, and of course— https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOoKzw3JSCM (thanks to my friend Malik for showing me that. I am a happy goose) I do believe this chapter about doubles the word count. Next chapter is the last, but I am hoping for a sequel, maybe a continuation in a series? I would love to hear if you want another story after this one in the same universe. And if you have any questions don't be shy!
> 
> Comments and kudos are always appreciated!!


	4. Life

Peridot noticed a visible change over the next twelve hours, both in the landscape and her teammates. They’d left the desert behind, for the most part, and drove through what must have looked like a nice place five hundred years ago. Peridot watched out the front window as old houses with metal front doors and low roofs sped by on the street. 

 

Jasper and Lazuli were much more civil to each other. Peridot thought she might actually be able to relax around them now. Lazuli started moving more, fussing with her hair, tugging at the ends of her shirt, scratching at her face. 

 

Her companion was about done. He needed something more—a spark of life, a spirit—but that was still software coding, and Peridot would work on that once she got back to the colony. 

 

“Ten minutes to life,” Jasper said. In the quiet of the pod, the statement thundered. Peridot thought she could hear every single one of their heartbeats. 

 

This was it. They were about to see the first life seen outside the colony for five hundred years. Peridot clenched her fists to match the clenching in her stomach and rolled her foot around her ankle. She pushed her hands over her legs, deep and hard, trying to calm herself down. 

 

There was a click, several clicks in fact, from Lazuli’s direction. Peridot didn’t bother to look up; she knew the photographs were of her. 

 

“We should suit up,” Lazuli said. “We’re about fifteen miles out. Are we ready?”

 

“This changes everything,” Peridot muttered to herself.  _ “Everything.” _

 

“You don’t even know if there’s life really out there,” Jasper said. “Peridot, there’s something I have to say before we go out there.”

 

Peridot gulped and clenched her fists, then relaxed them, in a pattern that couldn’t stop. 

 

Jasper grabbed her helmet and flicked it with her wrists, making it spin so fast it became a blur. Peridot could see the cogs working in her mind. 

 

“If, and I know this is a small probability,  _ if _ you were wrong….” Jasper stilled her helmet and looked into Peridot’s eyes. “I’m supposed to kill you.”

 

Peridot froze. She felt herself go cold, then hot all over. “You’re supposed to  _ what?” _

 

“I don’t want to!” Jasper said. “We’re, well, I want to call you my friend. I don’t want to have to kill you! But you have to understand, it’s a sort of…  _ justice.  _ You don’t lie to the Diamonds and just get away with it!”

 

“I would  _ never _ lie to my Diamond,” Peridot whispered, her voice tight.  _ “Never.” _

 

“I know!” Jasper exploded. She gestured grandly with her hands. “Look. Just  _ look. _ If we don’t find this life… it would be better if you just… disappeared. Do you hear me?”

 

“I am  _ not _ wrong. When were you going to  _ tell  _ me this?” Peridot, belatedly, rose to her feet. She yanked her suit down from its hook. “My robots are  _ not _ wrong.”

 

Jasper took a step back from Peridot’s tiny under-five-foot frame. Peridot thought she looked a little scared. “I know! I know your robots aren’t wrong. I  _ believe _ you, Dr Fahset-Smith.”

 

“Oh, please, if you’re going to have the honor of killing me, please, use my given name,” Peridot snarled sarcastically. “I’m Peridot. Lovely to meet you!”

 

“Please,” Jasper said. “Have faith in me. Have faith in yourself—it’s only if there’s not life. I’m sure there’s life, Peridot. Please.”

 

Peridot backed down when she heard the tell-tale  _ click. _ “Fine. I know I’m right. You’ll see.”

 

“I’m not the one you have to prove yourself to,” Jasper pleaded, but by that time Peridot was already shoving on her radiation suit and pointedly ignoring Jasper. “Dr Peridot? Are you going to be mad at me  _ now?” _

 

Peridot’s actions slowed. As much as it pained her to admit, that little thing Jasper said rang true—she shouldn’t be mad at her teammates on such a momentous occasion such as this. This was  _ life. _ It took precedence over literally everything. 

 

“Let’s just… do this,” Peridot muttered. “We’re so close.”

 

Lazuli was already waiting at the door when Peridot and Jasper finished putting on their suits. They went through the process of the Red Room, and with some slight hesitation, Lazuli slammed her hand on the opening button. 

 

With a great  _ hiss, _ the doors slid open to show a stunning view of what could have been Los Angeles five hundred years ago. In the daylight, the buildings spotted the hillsides and spread all the way down to the beaches. The sunlight glittered off of the ocean like diamonds. 

 

When Peridot looked closer, though, the ruins were obvious. The buildings closest to them were crumbling in on themselves, and there was not one single plant, animal, or person to be seen.

 

“Lapis,” Jasper grunted, as Peridot’s chest caved in on her. “Run some tests. Check the soil, air, and we can go down to the ocean to check the water. Peridot?”

 

Peridot turned to look up into Jasper’s face. She was shaking. 

 

“We’ll find what we came here for. I  _ promise.” _

 

Peridot nodded, but that didn’t stop her from fidgeting and worrying at her lips. 

 

“Even if it takes us hours. Days, even. We  _ will _ find life.”

 

Lazuli slowly brought out her tools. Peridot and Jasper watched in silence as she set it all up; it seemed to take forever. Peridot couldn’t tear her eyes away from the process. Lazuli had to lift parts of pavement to get to the soil underneath. It was pretty easy, though; no road work had been done for hundreds of years. The pavement was cracked and crumbly. 

 

They should have expected what happened, honestly. Especially Jasper. She was the one trained in combat, after all. She should have known.

 

Something touched Peridot’s back. They yanked her away before she could do more than scream. 

 

Instantly,  _ instantly,  _ people were screaming and fighting all around her. Jasper was saying words. Nothing that could Peridot could understand, though—

 

_ “Lapis! You tricked us! I thought I could trust you! Why would you do this?” _

 

The person behind Peridot huffed and gripped her arms tightly. Peridot kicked out, but the person held her above the ground, so she had no leverage. Then the person started shouting as well—  _ “Amethyst! To your left! Don’t let your guard down!”  _ She—the woman behind Peridot—had a funny sounding accent to her voice.  _ “Pearl! Come on! Keep fighting!” _

 

Peridot had to laugh. Back in the building on the corner of 8th and D, Peridot had the privilege of watching Jasper work out. The woman could crush a man’s head between her thighs. Her biceps were about as large as Peridot’s head. She was strong, and she could  _ fight.  _ The punching bags back in the colony gave their lives in honor to Jasper’s fists.

 

Peridot kicked out with both legs, then brought them down on the woman’s thighs. The woman didn’t even flinch. 

 

Lapis’s voice cut through the noise, screaming in Peridot’s direction—  _ “Garnet, give up on Dr Peridot! She’s not a problem! We need your help with Jasper!” _

 

The woman grunted, hesitated, then hurriedly let go of Peridot and was three steps away before Peridot even hit the ground. Peridot brought herself up to a kneeling position, then flipped around so she could see the battle. 

 

Lapis and three new women swarmed around Jasper, throwing punches, wielding spears and whips. Jasper had her hands shielding her head, though she would swipe at people or weapons who came too close. And they came too close too often. 

 

A breath hit Peridot’s chest, and she turned away from the scene she only had a split second to register. The pod was twenty feet away—Lazuli had dragged Peridot and Jasper as far as she could to get at a decently ruined piece of pavement, she said. What a  _ liar.  _

 

Lazuli’s foot hit the ground right in front of where Peridot was crawling. They both froze. 

 

“I trusted you,” Peridot whispered. “I thought we were friends.”

 

“You can come with us,” Lazuli whispered back. “Please. We  _ are  _ friends. I promise there’s a good reason why I’m doing this.”

 

“What reason could you  _ possibly _ have to hurt us?” Peridot’s voice rose in pitch. “You’re going to kill Jasper. Don’t—”

 

“We’re not going to kill Jasper,” Lazuli said, “I promise. We—this is a lot to take in, and you two were going to react violently—look! You did! We’re just trying to  _ save _ this planet!”

 

“You and your—who even  _ are _ these people? Your merry band of brothers? You’re not saving the world by killing the people who live in it!” 

 

Peridot scrambled to her feet and bolted for the pod. She got maybe five steps before it exploded in her face. 

 

All of their research— _ gone. _

 

All of their memories—Lazuli’s camera, Peridot’s companion—gone as well. 

 

And, of course, the best (maybe only) way of getting safely back to the colony.  _ Gone. _

 

Peridot turned to look over her shoulder. Lazuli held a small button in her hand, stretched in the direction of the pod.

 

That moment, suddenly, of Jasper tying a package and it disappearing came to Peridot’s mind. She knew she was  _ alone. _

 

Lazuli’s hand shook, but she held Peridot’s gaze hard and steady. The Lapis Jane Lazuli that Peridot had known was  _ gone. _

 

Peridot said nothing, simply bolted. Lazuli shouted once, and gave chase. What Lazuli didn’t know was Peridot didn’t run on a treadmill every day for the past ten years for nothing. She ran in any event she could—2K, 5K, marathons, charity projects. Over time, she started placing third, then second, and then first. 

 

Peridot could run like the wind, long and hard. She easily outstripped Lazuli and lost herself in the maze of Los Angeles suburbs. 

 

The sounds of Jasper’s fight faded with distance. Peridot resisted the urge to look over her shoulder. She wouldn’t see anything, anyway. 

 

Peridot felt herself slipping into survival mode. She needed to find food, water, shelter—maybe someone in Los Angeles was a survival nut before the war and had saved some canned beans that had lasted five hundred years. Peridot knew it was a lost cause before she got to the end of her thought. 

 

Eventually, after slowing down to conserve energy, Peridot reached Los Angeles proper. Skyscrapers loomed above her head. Peridot placed a hand on a metal beam embedded in the ground but yanked it away the second it burned her. 

 

All the buildings were skeletons. Glass had long since been shattered and scattered to the wind, though Peridot’s boots crunched over a few tiny pieces that were too stubborn to leave.  All that was really left was the hot metal. 

 

Peridot ducked into a building that had a roof so she could hide from the sun and checked over her radiation suit. It could probably hold up for the time it would take to walk back to the colony. At least, Peridot hoped it would. 

 

Stars, it was so creepy in the city. There weren’t even weeds growing through the cracks of the pavement. Sand had blown into most of the buildings over time, too, despite how far they were from a beach—it made the entire city look like a mess of sand and metal, a twisted perversion of the earth. 

 

Peridot’s hope of finding food dwindled as the day went on. She searched as much as she could, even going to what looked like a grocery store. There wasn’t anything. The whole place looked like it had been looted, and recently. Peridot didn’t bother going too far in. 

 

People can go three weeks without food, Peridot told herself. She’d be back at the colony by then. 

 

People can only survive three  _ days _ without water, Peridot reminded herself. There were more important things than  _ food. _

 

Her stomach growled. Peridot clutched at the thin fabric lined with lead, careful not to tear it. Her eyes squeezed shut, and Peridot sank to her knees, feeling the world crumble around her. Well, what was left of the world, anyway.

 

Peridot pushed aside her hunger and felt at the metal of the closest building. It was still hot, but since the sun was beginning to set, it would cool down soon, and Peridot would be able to get some high ground. 

 

She scoffed. Like high ground would help  _ now. _ She would die of thirst before making it three steps out of Los Angeles, or be caught by Lazuli and whoever else was with her—Jasper was probably already gone, and Peridot was surrounded by enemies on the opposite side of the continent from safety. 

 

And the radiation! The  _ radiation!  _ Peridot would crumble to pieces from the radiation before anything else could happen. The marrow in her bones would turn rotten, and her bones would come right out of her skin. They’d taught her this in school, all the horror stories of people caught on the other side of the fence. Peridot would become just another story— _ The Failed Scientist Who Thought She Had Discovered Life. _

 

The metal was cool enough to climb up, finally. Peridot chose what looked like a three-story building and used her training from the weight room back in her city to lift herself up that thing like no one’s business. If she wasn’t scared to die, she’d be proud of herself. 

 

From the top of the building, Peridot could see the entire ruined city of Los Angeles. Mountains spread in the distance that used to host the Hollywood sign, and if Peridot looked hard enough, she could see the white letters glimmering in the fading sunlight. 

 

On the other side of her, through a tangle of metal skeletons, Peridot could see the ocean. It had turned all sorts of colors in the sunset, a conglomeration of reds, yellows, and pinks that glittered like diamonds on the water. Peridot, ridiculously, thought of little Yellow Diamond heads bobbing along on the waves, and she had to hide her laughter. 

 

Wait. 

 

There was a device on her wrist. Strapped like a watch, it had two buttons on the front side, one yellow and one red. Peridot had a dim memory of a briefing about their SOS signals, but in the rush of preparing for the trip, she had largely forgotten about it. She tried to remember now. 

 

Well, color theory would pull through, probably. Peridot winced, then pressed the red button for a long moment. She wasn’t quite sure how it worked, if she had to press it for a long time or if that would reset the alarm. Either way, nothing happened, and Peridot unpressed it after a moment. 

 

She would get through this. She just had to wait. Whoever was on the other side of that SOS signal would come soon. She just had to… wait. 

 

She heard a sound coming from maybe three blocks away, and immediately, her flight-or-fight was back. Peridot hugged her knees to her chest and smacked a hand over her mouth to stifle her breathing. 

 

Lazuli shouted something, though nothing Peridot could hear. As she got closer, though, words started filtering through. “Peridot? Are you here? Come on out! We’re not going to hurt you!”  _ Liar. _

 

Peridot tightened the hand over her mouth into a fist. It was so silent here. She couldn’t even hear the ocean. The slightest sound could mean death. 

 

Another voice shouted—it was from the woman who had held Peridot earlier. “Doctor Peridot! Where are you? You’re going to get hurt out here!”

 

Oh, very nice of them to pretend they cared about what happened to Peridot. She rolled her eyes. 

 

The woman shouted again, this time much more frustrated. “Peridot! We know you’re here! Show yourself!”

 

Peridot brought her knees tighter to her body and squeezed her eyes shut. Her heart was about to leap out of her throat. 

 

“Your friend is with us!” A new voice, this one much more excited, called out. “Jasper is going to get hurt if you don’t show yourself! We’ll find you eventually, you know!”

 

Peridot was about to pee her pants. It’s that sort of fear response she’d never been proud of. There were others, other fear responses, that just didn’t make sense or weren’t right or were shameful. Like running. Which was what Peridot was about to do. 

 

She scrambled to her feet, wincing at the crunch of metal underneath her boots. She heard shouts coming from Lazuli’s direction and winced  _ harder. _ She climbed down the building as swiftly as she could—not swift enough, apparently, since all four maniacs were only on the other side of the street. 

 

Peridot bolted. 

 

It’s no use. She was tired, depleted of energy, and she could already feel the ghost of radiation pushing at her bones. It was inevitable, really, that they caught her. 

 

It was the one that had held her back before that caught up to her first. She wielded no weapons, simply her fists, and caught Peridot in a simple one-two that made her see stars. 

 

Stars. How lovely. 

 

Dimly, she felt gravel embed itself onto her back, and heard Lazuli say something, maybe— “Don’t hurt her, she’s done nothing wrong, she’s not a problem. I want to help her.”

 

Peridot, suddenly, was too tired to care about anything they did to her. They could kill her and she wouldn’t bat an eye. Well, the plan was to not be killed, but the way things were panning out, things weren’t really going to happen like that, were they?

 

They slipped a blindfold over Peridot’s eyes, and one of them lifted Peridot’s limp body over her shoulder. Peridot felt the shifting of fabric under her hands. 

 

“She’s not, like…  _ dead, _ is she?” the one who threatened her asked. “Garnet, you didn’t kill her, did you?”

 

There was a sick pause, in which even Peridot waited for the final verdict. Was she dead? This question would decide. 

 

“No,” the woman—Garnet—finally decided. Her voice came from close by. “No, I can feel her heartbeat.” 

 

There was a general sigh of relief, even from Peridot herself. 

 

“Where are we going to put her?” the same questionner asked. Peridot heard her voice moving, and imagined her circling her and Garnet. 

 

Garnet started moving, and Peridot heard a multitude of footsteps walking around. “Let’s not talk about this in case she can hear us. We don’t know what she knows.”

 

The silence dragged on. Peridot watched the light fade from behind her blindfold. All of a sudden, a door creaked open, and Garnet dropped Peridot on the ground. Peridot scrambled to her feet and began to fight with the blindfold—she only got a short glimpse of a bare bulb hanging above a metal table in a concrete bunker before she was forcefully shoved into a separate room. The door slammed shut and locked her into a full darkness. 

 

Peridot finally shucked the blindfold off into a distant corner. The room was small, and in the dim light from the cracks of the door, Peridot could see shelves of crates and boxes. It must have been a storage closet hurriedly repurposed into a cell. 

 

“They got you too, huh?” Jasper’s voice made Peridot jump out of her skin. She placed a hand over her rabbit heart and hunched over it, trying to keep it in her chest. 

 

“Jasper. You scared me,” Peridot whispered. “Where are we?” 

 

Jasper’s shadowy figure in the back of the room said nothing, simply stared. Peridot rubbed her arm. 

 

There were a couple steps leading up to the door into the main room. Peridot sat on the bottom step, where she could hear what they were saying. Their conversation was in full swing already. 

 

The questionner—Peridot  _ really _ needed to know her name—said, “I don’t know, we should probably just release them. We don’t actually have the resources to keep them here long-term. They’re not too bad, right?”

 

There was a tight tension for a moment, then Garnet said, “No.” Peridot could tell she was lying. 

 

Lazuli changed the subject before anyone else could say anything. “The colony knows we’re here. The report was given to Yellow Diamond herself. We have to move.”

 

Someone banged their fist on the table, and an angry, mom-like voice rang out. Peridot jumped. “We are  _ not _ moving! Who knows what could happen to Steven if he was moved?”

 

“Pearl, calm down,” Garnet said. “We’re not moving. If Peridot and Jasper just… disappear, the colony will assume they died from radioactivity, and they won’t try to come here again. It would be too dangerous.”

 

There was an awkward silence. Peridot rubbed her hands over her thighs, and Jasper stood up from her position in the back of the room. The dim light  _ just _ managed to catch her general shape. Her hair had come loose sometime in the rough handling the women had given her, and Peridot’s fists clenched as she realized  _ Jasper didn’t have her suit on. _

 

“We’re not actually going to kill them, right?” the questionner asked. 

 

Another awkward silence pushed Peridot’s shoulders down further and further into her knees. She felt her breath start to come in short gasps, and tears formed at the corners of her eyes that she couldn’t brush away. 

 

Jasper crouched down right in front of Peridot’s shaking body and placed a hand on her knee. “Peridot? Peridot, listen to me. I promise I won’t let them hurt you.”

 

“Jasper,” Peridot whispered, “your suit.”

 

Jasper stood up. Her fists were level with Peridot’s face, even with the slight boost the step gave her. “I don’t need it.”

 

“Your suit,” Peridot gasped again, needing to fixate on one thing, one thing that could be solved. 

 

Jasper ignored her. “Is your suit torn at all?”

 

Peridot could only stare up at Jasper dumbly; her brain couldn’t think straight. Jasper sighed and checked Peridot roughly for any tears or holes, like they used to do in the Red Room. 

 

“Good,” Jasper said when she was done. “Step back.”

 

“Why, what are you going to do,” Peridot asked, not a question. 

 

“I’m going to break the door down.”

 

Peridot leapt to her feet and gestured expressively behind her. “What,  _ now? _ Are you insane? They’re  _ right there!” _

 

Jasper said nothing. The lighting was only enough to catch the gleam of her teeth in her wicked grin. Peridot clenched her fists tightly shut, then backed off when she felt the fabric under her fingernails weaken. She stepped off to the side and watched as Jasper walked back two steps. 

 

Jasper ran to the door and kicked it right on the door jamb. The wood splintered under her foot. Peridot could hear shocked noises from the room beyond. 

 

Jasper kicked the door again for good measure, then ripped through the broken wood to turn the knob. The second she was able to, she bolted. Peridot, stuck in a state of confusion, was slower to follow. Maybe that’s what cost her her freedom. 

 

Jasper escaped into the wild beyond of Los Angeles. Peridot could see light streaming in through broken metal skeletons, highlighting her hair, casting a deep shadow over the sandy pavement. The sky looked beautiful. Peridot was down in the storage room longer than she thought; the sun peeped over the mountains and sent the first rays of light into the day. 

 

Her arm was caught, and she was hauled backwards. More hands grabbed at her waist and her legs and arms, and for the first time, Peridot wailed for her lost opportunities. 

 

* * *

 

Lapis was the one to stop the rest of them from throwing Peridot back into the storage room. “I promise she’s not a threat,” she had said. “She can’t hurt a fly.” Peridot was going to make her  _ eat her words. _

 

The four women regarded Peridot closely. Peridot sat in a chair near the table in the middle of the room; her hands weren’t bound, but where could she go?

 

“We have a couple questions,” the skinny one at the end said. Peridot recognized her as  _ Pearl, _ the one who sounded like a mom. 

 

Peridot brought her feet up to the edge of her chair and wrapped her arms around them. “Who’s  _ Steven?” _

 

All four reacted oddly, like they were… scared. Scared of what Peridot had said. 

 

“You’ll answer our questions first,” the middle one—Garnet—said. “How did you find us?”

 

Peridot glanced over at Lazuli, who leaned in a far corner, her arms crossed. Peridot buried her face in her knees, subtly shifting her weight over her toes. 

 

“Dr Lazuli knows,” Peridot said, her words slightly muffled. “Ask her.”

 

Lazuli gasped, offended, and stood up straight, her fists clenched at her sides. “What—I—I would  _ never! _ Garnet, you believe me—I would have told you if I knew!”

 

“Well then,” Peridot said, a smirk crossing her face, “who wasn’t paying attention during briefing? It was my drones. They’re made to detect life across America. Is that all?”

 

Garnet crossed her arms across her chest. “How do you know Steven?”

 

“I just heard you talking about him,” Peridot muttered into her knees. “What are you going to do to me? Are you going to kill me?”

 

“We’re not going to kill you, doctor Peridot,” Garnet said. Her face didn’t move behind her sunglasses, so Peridot couldn’t tell if she was affected by the question or not. 

 

“Then what are you going to do with me?” 

 

The four looked at each other, uncomfortable. The short one spoke first, and Peridot pinned her as the questionner from before. “We don’t know yet.”

 

“Amethyst!” Pearl said, quite offended. “Don’t  _ tell _ her that!”

 

“What,” Amethyst said, dragging the vowel slightly. “We don’t!”

 

“That may be true, but we have nothing to gain by telling her that, and she has everything to,” Garnet said. “It’s fine.”

 

Amethyst pbtpbtpbt’ed. “Whatever.”

 

“Peridot, you’re going to be fine,” Lazuli said from her corner of the room. “Just answer our questions and we’ll get you out of here.”

 

Peridot laughed once, because there was nothing else to do. “Get me  _ out _ of here? Where would I  _ go?” _

 

“We’ll—we’ll get you somewhere safe,” Garnet said. 

 

Thoughts ran wild around Peridot’s head. They obviously didn’t want her there, though there wasn’t anywhere else to go except back to the colony, and they didn’t want her there, either. There had to be a way out of this where Peridot could get what  _ she  _ wanted. 

 

“What are you protecting?” Peridot muttered. “Is it the  _ Steven?” _

 

The four looked at each other again. Mostly they looked at Garnet, who said, “You have to promise not to tell anyone.”

 

“Fine! Fine, I can do that,” Peridot said, letting her legs fall to the floor. “I won’t tell anyone, I promise.”

 

Pearl gestured for Peridot to rise, and they lead her along a hallway to a doorway. None of them went inside, so Peridot didn’t either. 

 

Garnet twitched aside curtains to reveal a window that looked into a brightly lit and colored bedroom. Inside, a small boy with dark, curly hair bounced a poorly stitched cat toy along the floor, presumably making noises. Peridot couldn’t hear. She watched him lead the cat around in a circle, following the path with his body. That was it? That was all these women were protecting?

 

“This is Steven,” Pearl said. She placed a hand on the glass, and smiled at the boy when he got up to wave at her. “We found him wandering outside.”

 

Peridot watched this  _ Steven  _ walk around the room, abandoning his cat in favor of a pad of paper and some crayons. “What does that have to do with anything? He's just a  _ child. _ There are thousands of those running around.”

 

There was an awkward pause, where Steven held up a drawing he must have recently made of what was probably Pearl. Pearl smiled at him and put a hand on her heart.

 

“He wasn’t wearing a suit,” Amethyst said, somber. 

 

Peridot leapt away from the window to hug the far wall. “What! And you just  _ let him in?  _ Do you  _ know _ what radiation  _ does _ to people? You guys are going to  _ die! _ Oh. Oh heavens.  _ I’m _ going to die.” She slid down the wall and hugged her knees. “We’re all  _ doomed….”  _

 

“That was five years ago,” Garnet said. She kept her sunglasses trained on Steven, but Peridot had no doubt that she was looking at Peridot out of the corner of her eye. “He’s fine. So are we. Look—he’s a healthy, happy, normal boy. We had Lapis run tests on him—took it like a champ—Lapis was wandering round here, almost dead from radiation.”

 

Lazuli nodded in confirmation. “I was dying. The pain was… excruciating. Garnet and Amethyst found me. They must have known I wouldn’t be a threat. They gave me some of Steven’s blood as a sort of medicine. It saved me. The radiation left my body. I was cured.” She looked at Steven, an odd expression on her face. “I owe these people… I owe Steven everything.”

 

Peridot said, “You’re pulling my leg.”

 

“No! We’re not!” Amethyst said, dancing from one leg to another. She grabbed Peridot’s hand and hauled her up. “He’s why we can live here, even though it’s so radioactive!! We deep-sea fish a lot, and Lapis here found out a way to make the soil non-toxic so we can grow plants. Someone here left packets of seeds before—someone left packets of seeds! We’re surviving!”

 

Peridot slowly turned to look at the object of everyone’s attention. Steven—he was so unassuming, so fragile, so small… and somehow, he was their only hope. 

 

 

 

 

END

 

 

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so much for reading! This is the end of the first book. I do have an idea for a second book floating around somewhere, and I know I left some questions unanswered, so if anyone is interested, please tell me what you think about a book 2!
> 
> I hope you enjoyed the story! Comments and kudos are always appreciated! I had an amazing time writing this story. I feel like my writing has improved over the summer I spent writing it, and now I am more confident in my skills. I hope you had as great of a time reading this as I did writing it.

**Author's Note:**

> This came to me in the dead of night. By that I meant that I slept until 2 in the afternoon and I would have slept longer, except this idea came to me and I had to write it down.
> 
> Comments and kudos are always, always, always appreciated! Please tell me how I did!
> 
> Find me at my writing tumblr: reaadmydumbfanfiction.tumblr.com


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